"What is incumbent upon you now is to ... boycott the Kenyan elections and wage jihad against the Kenyan military for they cannot afford to continue fighting an invasion abroad as well as an internal conflict at home," al Shabaab said in a statement cited by the U.S.-based SITE service on Monday.

Someone should make a sketch where the Kenyans elect an American white guy who then vehemently denies he is American. Make him a crazy caricature who refuses to release any credentials to refute claims that he is in fact American and ridicules anyone who mentions it.

CNN's coverage of this election has, honestly, been downright shoddy. Whilst there does appear to have been a few outbreaks of violence at polls in Kilifi and Mombasa, these read as isolated incidents, rather than some sort of organised or systemic breakdown. Looking at CNN's count, I see 15 dead in attacks, ten in Mombasa, and five in Kilifi. The ten in Mombasa are definitely part of a fringe separatist attack, and do not reflect a broader trend.

There are also a further 20 dead in a 'stampede' at a polling station; admittedly, a tragedy, but I'm not willing to put that down as organised or systemic violence indicative of an issue with the Kenyan election process - a horrific accident, yes, but without any indications of planned, or even spontaneous, violence.

The only larger issue, outside of the incident in Mombasa, is an explosion of a pair of bombs in Mandera, which, as the article notes, is near the Somali border; Given the current situation vis. terrorist cells along that border, I'd lean toward calling that 'terrorist activity' rather than 'election violence'.

The vast, vast majority of Kenyans have always been law abiding citizens, and always keen to get out and vote. Misrepresenting the nation as a hotbed of political and sectarian violence may drive pageviews, but is intellectually dishonest. Glad to hear from ex-colleagues that the elections are going well, and CNN should re-examine its coverage.